vegetables should be cooked with the lid off, to encourage the partial evaporation of any of these acidic compounds Ah, you’re thinking to yourself, if acid is the enemy of green vegetables, why not add a pinch of baking soda to the water to keep them bright and green? And you’d be right—baking so d a does keep vegetables greener Unfortunately, it also hastens the breakdown of their cells, causing them to turn mushy while imparting a soapy aftertaste Beans cooked in plain water, acidic water, and baking soda water Seems like in this case, the pro-big-potters are right It’s the only way to achieve vegetables that are simultaneously bright green and tender-crisp Shocking! Once your vegetables are cooked perfectly, the question remaining is how to prevent them from overcooking At the restaurants I’ve worked in, we’d plunge them into a huge bowl of ice water and leave them there until completely chilled But in my home kitchen, I tested the ice-water method side by side with two other methods: running the drained vegetables under cool tap water and simply leaving them in a bowl at room temperature Both the ice-water vegetables and the cool-running-water veg came out identically, so clearly the ice is overkill—cold water will do just fine Surprisingly though, it turned out that even when the vegetables are simply placed in a bowl and left on the counter, the ones around the edges lose heat to the air fast enough to prevent overcooking It’s only the vegetables in the center that end up mushy and dark green So, as long as you spread the vegetables out in a single layer—say, on a rimmed baking sheet—you don’t even really need the cold water I still use it just for the sake of convenience, but it’s good to know this in a pinch Whatever cooling method you use, it is of vital importance that you dry your vegetables in a salad spinner or with a clean kitchen towel before adding them to a salad That is, unless you like watered-down salad BLANCHING IS the gateway to so much more than keeping green vegetables green, however In common cook’s parlance, blanching is the act of dropping vegetables into a large pot of boiling salted water and lightly cooking them Most often, the vegetables are then used in another recipe, whether it’s sweet peas that are lightly blanched in ... cooked perfectly, the question remaining is how to prevent them from overcooking At the restaurants I’ve worked in, we’d plunge them into a huge bowl of ice water and leave them there until completely... simply placed in a bowl and left on the counter, the ones around the edges lose heat to the air fast enough to prevent overcooking It’s only the vegetables in the center that end up mushy and dark green... cook’s parlance, blanching is the act of dropping vegetables into a large pot of boiling salted water and lightly cooking them Most often, the vegetables are then used in another recipe, whether it’s sweet peas that are lightly blanched in